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Tags Posts tagged with "Counselor"

Counselor

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The Office of Children, Youth and Families is offering no-cost continuing education opportunities for service professionals. The Department’s First Responder Addiction and Connection to Treatment program (FR-ACT) is a training program within the Office of Drug Surveillance and Misuse Prevention that was established to ensure first responders and public safety professionals, including CYS professionals, have the tools necessary to respond to the overdose epidemic. Training is offered at no cost and is available in all 67 counties across Pennsylvania. The Department works with an expert training vendor, St. Joseph’s University, to deliver live trainings.

FR-ACT trains and provides skills to first responders and public safety professionals on opioid use disorder, overdose response, and related information, including:

  • Substance use disorder as a chronic disease;
  • Stigma reduction;
  • Providing resources to overdose survivors and families;
  • Naloxone use and leave-behind practices; and
  • Warm hand-offs and connection to treatment.

Continuing education credits are now available for Pennsylvania State Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Professional Counselors licensees who complete FR-ACT training. There are two ways to participate:

  1. Complete the online, self-study training on TRAIN PA and earn 1 credit hour. Self-study training is available here.
  2. Schedule a training for yourself or your agency by contacting St. Joseph’s University Center for Addiction and Recover Education. OR, you can email the Department. Credit hours available to participants of live training will depend on the length of live training.

More information about FR-ACT may be found here. Please contact Emma Sharp with any questions.

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Autistic and intellectually disabled people are at increased risk of being victimized and experiencing trauma; however, few therapists are skilled in both supporting these communities and providing trauma-focused care. To bridge this gap, psychologists with the ASERT team created the TRAIN program — 12 weeks of self-guided learning and live webinars for mental health therapists licensed in Pennsylvania who are currently working with autistic and/or intellectually disabled adults. TRAIN is an integrative and neuro-affirming approach to trauma-focused care with neurodivergent adults, centering clinical work with the autistic and intellectually disabled communities. After completing the 12 weeks of learning, participants have the option to continue their training through clinical consultation with the developers of TRAIN.

This program covers:

  • Trauma-focused mental healthcare;
  • Types and prevalence of trauma;
  • Expressions of trauma;
  • Neurodiversity and Neuro-affirming practices;
  • Navigating disclosures of abuse and ethical considerations of reporting abuse and neglect of dependent adults;
  • Assessing trauma and using trauma-focused interviews;
  • Trauma-focused and neuro-affirming psychoeducation;
  • Trauma response and nervous system regulation strategies;
  • Trauma processing techniques; and
  • Resiliency and therapist self-preservation.

Target Audience: This program was developed for therapists, counselors, and clinical social workers who already have experience working with clients who have an Intellectual Disability/Autism (ID/A) diagnosis and are looking to gain knowledge and skills related to trauma therapy. Therapists who do not have experience with ID/A clients are also welcome to participate, but the expectation is they would be committed to taking such clients into their practice after completing the program, as the purpose is to build capacity in this area across the state. You must currently be licensed and provide 1:1 talk therapy sessions to adult clients at the moment to qualify for this course and participate in the case consultation presentations.

Course Structure: 12 weeks in total, comprised of 3 modules that are each 4 weeks long. The first three weeks are self-paced learning courses that are assigned through the online Learning Management System. The fourth week of each module is an hour-and-a-half interactive discussion with the other group members and instructors. These live sessions are required and are held from 9:00 am – 10:30 am on the following dates:

  • September9: Pre-TRAIN Live Session
  • October 14: M1 Live Session
  • November 11: M2 Live Session
  • December 9: M2 Live Session
  • January 13, 2026: Weekly Case Consultation Calls (8:00 am – 9:00 am, Tuesdays). This will continue until everyone presents twice.

Case Consultations: After the initial 12 weeks, there is a short break followed by a second 12-week session that consists of weekly one-hour case consultations. These are optional but highly recommended. Each participant is expected to present a case from a current patient and receive feedback/information from other participants and the instructors. Participants need to join at least 6 of the 12 weekly case consultation calls, although it is encouraged to attend all of them. If you are not currently seeing patients or are not in the capacity to present any cases, this may not be the right program for you.

Cost and CE Credits: It is free to participate. 13.5 continuing Education (CE) credits are provided through the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) upon completion of the program.

If you believe this program is appropriate for you and can commit to the requirements, please complete this survey by Wednesday, August 27, 2025. This will be on a first-come, first-serve basis, so don’t delay! Also, if you are unable participate this Fall due to other commitments but would still be interested in doing it for Spring 2026, please say so in the survey.

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RCPA and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing have worked together to resolve the recent concern with Medicare enrollment rejections for Marriage and Family Therapists as well as Mental Health Counselors. There have been many cases where the applications were rejected because applications did not include documentation or verification of the required 3,000 hours of supervision or the 2 years’ experience. RCPA met with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on several occasions, outlining that the applications that meet the Medicare enrollment criteria have met this standard as part of the PA State License.

Initially, CMS cited that it was a requirement to provide the documentation. After communicating with CMS leadership, however, CMS responded that RCPA was correct and clarified that if a provider is licensed and the hours are a requirement for the licensure, said provider does not require the verification.

If your agency has received a rejected application, please contact RCPA Policy Director Jim Sharp, who will connect your agency to the proper department that will address the denial.

SUD Addiction Counselors Eligible for Medicare Enrollment

There have been several members who have attempted to enroll their SUD counselors who have met the enrollment qualification being told by CMS that the enrollment does not include these SUD professionals.

RCPA has confirmed with CMS leadership that if the provider is licensed as an addiction counselor or alcohol and drug counselor (ADC) by the state in which the services are performed, they can also enroll as an MHC as long as all other requirements are met.

MHCs are defined as individuals who:

  • Possess a master’s or doctor’s degree, which qualifies for licensure or certification as an MHC, clinical professional counselor, or professional counselor under the state law of the state in which such individual furnishes the services defined as mental health counselor services;
  • After obtaining such a degree, have performed at least 2 years or 3,000 hours of post-master’s degree clinical supervised experience in mental health counseling in an appropriate setting, such as a hospital, SNF, private practice, or clinic; and
  • Is licensed or certified as an MHC, clinical professional counselor, professional counselor, addiction counselor, or alcohol and drug counselor (ADC) by the state in which the services are performed.

RCPA is recommending that this language accompany any future enrollment applications to CMS for SUD Addictions Counselors enrollment documentation.

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